1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of waste disposal. More specifically, the invention comprises an incinerator capable of incinerating biomass materials such as animal carcasses and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Incinerators in general, and organic waste incinerators in particular, have been in widespread use for decades. A typical example is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,745 to Kaehr (1997). The Kaehr device uses an insulation-lined steel drum. As shown in FIG. 5, the general configuration has a gas burner on one end (24) and an exhaust stack on the other end (26).
A loading hatch is provided to load the biomass materials. The reader will observe—particularly in FIG. 8—that the biomass material tends to burn in a linear fashion (from one end to the other). The Kaehr device does not employ a grate, since prior art grates tend to deteriorate. Instead, it simply lets the residue fall to the bottom of the combustion chamber.
Similar devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,000,705 to Raber (1977), U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,597 to Kaehr (1998), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,926,933 to Kaehr (1999). The incinerators shown in these patents are representative of the prior art. The most significant aspect of these devices is that the biomass materials tend to burn in a linear fashion. The flame is located on one side of the material and the exhaust on the other. The biomass material begins burning on the side facing the flame, and the flame front progresses through the material.
The linear burning approach represents a limitation of the prior art. Much of the biomass material lies smoldering until the flame front reaches it. Thus, the prior art devices are slow. They also tend to produce incomplete combustion, resulting in excessive waste products. One approach to this problem has been to recombust the exhaust products (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,745), but this approach adds considerable complexity. A faster incinerator is certainly desirable.
Accordingly, the prior art devices are limited in that they:                1. Provide a relatively slow combustion process;        2. Require a multi-stage combustion process, adding considerable complexity; and        3. Burn the biomass materials in a linear fashion.        